thinking of loosing some weight off me capri mainly just bonnet boot roof(dam rusty sunroof) and lexi windows. how much lighter and stronger is carbon over fiberglass and is it much harder to work with ie painting cutting in vents etc

 

its far cheaper to carbon wrap the fiberglass. but its not that much lighter, but alot stronger

 

carbon is alot stronger than fibreglass, weight wise i don't think theres much in it and both are very similar to work with as you have to be careful of the dust they both kick up when they are cut.

 

Depends on the type of fibreglass that you are comparing to carbon. The difference in strength between some CSM (chopped strand matting) fibreglass and carbon is quite high, but if using woven R or S glass, the difference is much less so.

Weave also has an impact as the directionality can be manipulated to give strength in the direction of any load path.

 

if you do decide to go for a fiberglass bonnet make sure you get one with a frame on it as they do tend to lift over 65 - 70 mph or fit bonet pins

 

The issue for large panels is that by the time you've made an FG panel thick enough to not flex (unless its an f1 front wing) it'll way as much as an ally one...

 

the fibreglass bonnet on the escort was actually lighter than the carbon equivalent!

 

thanks guys for info anyone use panels from smith and deaken think il go fiberglass and carbon skin bonnet and get carbon roof panel custom made

 

Carbon is much lighter than grp, to get strength from grp using csm you need quantity, the woven option is a bit tricky as poylester resin doesnt like to flex once built up and delamination issues can hinder you if not enough is used when creating voids and using cores. You will also find that grp has unreliable characteristics dependant on temp, look at the lines either side of the panel with the next one on say a cold day, then again on a hot one if you know what I mean.

Carbon is far superior, you can use different teqniques for gaining strength without using more material in the form of cores, ribs, basically when you introduct a void between 2 layers of infused fabric the result once cured is a very rigid part if done correctly. Also the epoxy is not affected by temp so once the part is made the size would stay the same.

It all depends on what you are after, if you are after cheap panels which are light but you wont be afraid of driving the car in anger in case of remortgageing to replace a panel then grp is defo the way to go, if you want to have the ultimate in strength and lightness then carbon/aramid is the way forward, whoever is doing these parts for you talk to them in detail as they will be able to adjust the part to your spec.

One last thing, if you are going to skin a grp bonnet with carbon, we have found epoxy has very poor bonding properties with polyester and delamination issues can occur so a carbon look vynal wrap may be a better soloution?

Hope this helps you